Many restaurants have increasingly started to realize the importance of sharp knives, not only for cooking purposes but also for dining. If you are a restaurant owner, you can immensely benefit from professional knife sharpening; however, you should also understand the difference between a dull knife and a sharp knife.
Dull Knife vs. Sharp Knife
The primary difference between a sharp and dull knife is the edge of the knife. If you are dealing with a dull knife, you can visually detect that the edge is dull. That said, take a close look at the edge of the knife by holding it straight at first and then tilting it slightly to the right and left.
Before you visually assess the knife, make sure that there is plenty of light in the room, or simply step out in broad daylight and look at the edge of the knife blade for dullness. Besides detecting the “dullness” of the edge, you can also trace the edge for potential chips and nicks.
If you fail to capture the light across the edge of the knife, it shows that the knife is razor-sharp and ready to be used for slicing through that stake. However, if you want to detect the sharpness level of the knife, we recommend tapping your fingernail across the edge of the knife blade.
If the edge of the knife slides or deflects the fingernail, you are dealing with a dull blade. However, if the knife blade seems to bite into the fingernails, you are all set to deal with a razor-sharp kitchen knife. It is important to mention here that the knife might be sharp at one section of the knife blade and dull at others.
For knives used at restaurants or in the kitchen for cooking purposes, you might want to assess the entire edge of the knife blade. Start from that part of the knife blade that is closest to the handle. Starting from the heel of the knife, gradually work your way upwards to the tip of the knife to assess the sharpness test. Cleaver knives, such as the Promaja knife, are usually extremely sharp because they are used for slashing through thick pieces of meat and splitting up large pieces of soft bones.
If you are afraid that you might get injured or have a knife-related accident, you can also use a pencil and tap the knife’s edge against the pencil’s body. If the edge sticks to the pencil, you are dealing with a sharp knife.
The Importance of Sharp Knives at Restaurants
While keeping your kitchen knives sharp and clean for cooking purposes, you ought to keep the blades sharp for dining purposes as well. Your potential customers will feel greatly disappointed when their knives won’t slice through their food. In the absence of a sharp knife, your customers will have to work “extra hard” to slice and cut through their food. No matter how good the taste is, if they (your customers) cannot tuck into the food and enjoy its deliciousness due to poor kitchen utensils, they will be left greatly disappointed and leave you with bad reviews. Thus, a dull kitchen knife could potentially damage your ratings and bring down your restaurant’s reputation, which is why you should pay special attention to cutlery besides the quality of food and restaurant ambiance.
Final Thoughts
Sharp knives are smooth and easy to maneuver while you, your staff (chefs), and customers (diners) won’t have to exert brute force to make things work in the kitchen or enjoy their food in the dine-in area. By exerting more pressure to make the knife work, the food will be damaged as well, which is something you might want to avoid at all costs. Simply put, a dull knife will slow down your cooking and eating process; whereas, a sharp knife will set all things right.
